Feathers and Flesh
by Valeria Aurelia
Summary: After being captured by a strange witch, Castiel is transformed into something Sam and Dean thought they'd never see. Now, the Winchesters must face the challenges of his change while trying to fix him. Doesn't sound too hard... right...? No Slash; Wing!fic; AU Season 8 Ending
1. Stupid the Witch

_Hello, fellow Supernatural fans! Welcome to my second Supernatural fanfiction! I'm so glad you came! You will not be disappointed! I hope... _

_Now, before you start reading this, I just wanted to tell you: Do not be fooled by the second genre being labeled as 'Humor'. This fanfiction is completely serious. Completely. So, enjoy! Thanks! :D_

 _Oh, and for people annoyed by the fact that I spell Castiel's nickname as 'Cass', don't worry, you're not alone. I actually cringe every time I write that nickname. But I do it because...*sigh*... that's how it's actually spelled. One of these days I'm gonna rebel and do it my way, but, not today. Sorry._

 _Disclaimer:_ _I do not own any of the characters or ideas for 'Supernatural'. All rights belong to Eric Kripke and other writers of the show. Thank you for making this wonderful story!_

* * *

Two days. Two long, _terrible_ days. That's how long Castiel had been at the bunker already. Sam couldn't tell who had it worse, Cass, Dean, or him. The past two days had been full of nothing but death-glares from Dean and a whole sad aura surrounding Castiel. And Sam was smack-dab in the middle of it.

They had just been told what the third trial was, 'curing a demon', whatever that meant. And for a research-nerd like Sam, it was kind of embarrassing that they hadn't found out yet, either. The annoying drama that filled the room didn't help either, especially with how bad he was feeling anyway because of the previous trials. And this 'annoying drama' was all caused because Castiel had been too scared to trust anyone, even Dean, with the Angel Tablet. Now, the older hunter was refusing to talk or even look at the angel.

The tension got _so bad_ that Castiel couldn't even stand being in the same room with Dean. He spent most of his time exploring the bunker, actually finding pretty cool rooms while he was at it. But whenever he ventured into a place that Dean was in too, he would tuck tail and run. Sam couldn't blame the guy, either. _He_ hated having to share the library space with Dean, even if his brother was acting especially nice to him. However, the fact that he knew he was staring at the reason why there was someone else sharing their living space with them, who was too afraid to come out and even say 'Good morning!,' was painful.

That morning had been filled with the same tension as it had been the last few days. He had seen Castiel a couple of times already when the angel wanted to say hello, ask how he slept, and ask if he wanted to see the rooms he had found the day before. Sam was glad to have the casual conversation with his friend. Castiel just hadn't had many of those the last few days. But their talk was, sadly, very brief as Dean walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. The older man completely ignored his friend as he greeted his brother. Dean had only said one word, but the tension he brought with him looked like it was about to strangle Castiel.

The angel got up from his seat at the table and was about to leave the room when he looked over at the man who he had fought alongside with for so many years, his best friend. Castiel sighed, looked around, before starting, "Dean, I-"

"Yeah, Cass, I heard you! You're sorry!" Dean interrupted, not bothering to look at the angel in the eye.

"I… I am, Dean… I just want you to understand that…I made a mistake…! And I realize that, and I want to make it up to you-" Castiel tried to continue.

Dean then whipped around suddenly as he snapped, "I know, Cass! I get it! You feel sorry! I _know_ that already, dammit! You've told me that, like, a thousand times! And ya know what? I'm sick of it! I'm sick of everyone apologizing all the time! So, stop it and shut up!" The hunter then turned back to the counter and started to get out things to make breakfast.

Castiel nodded solemnly before muttering, "I'm, uh, gonna go take a walk outside." He turned to leave before pausing at the doorway. The angel then turned back to Sam and told him, "I'll be gone for…about five minutes."

Sam nodded in response, and with that, Castiel left, leaving the two brothers in an awkward silence. But after a while, Sam decided he couldn't take the annoying tension anymore. So he asked, "Dean, again, you don't have to be so hard on Cass like that."

"And, again, why do we have to let him off the hook so easily?" Dean asked, looking at Sam with an irritated glare. "And don't you _dare_ say because he's Cass, because that says nothing."

Sam looked away for a minute, trying to figure out a better way to phrase it, but when nothing came to mind, he answered, "Because… he's one of us." Dean looked up at his little brother with a furrowed brow of slight shock at his answer. "He's our friend, hell, he's your _best_ friend. He's…family."

* * *

Castiel walked along the driveway of the bunker, hands in his pockets, feeling the wind brush against his vessel's face. It was so calming after coming from such an awful conversation. Hell, it wasn't even a 'conversation' anymore, it was a scolding. A punishment.

Was that all Castiel was supposed to get for the rest of his life? Punishments? Because everything that had happened to him seemed to be a punishment. The only thing that made him feel happy was being with the Winchesters. But now, even that's a punishment. And what had he done that made him deserve this? Save the world? Castiel should be praised by his siblings for that, not hunted and hated. Shouldn't he be given anything he wanted? Shouldn't he have been given a wonderful life full of happiness? But what did he get instead? The only friends that he had left hating him a little bit more every time he tried to help? It begged the question, what should he do in order not to screw things up? Hide under a rock until the sun blows up?

It seemed pretty logical when he thought about it, actually. No one would get hurt because of him, and his two best friends would live in peace knowing they had one less person to deal with. And he would be happy knowing the same.

Castiel stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around the trees then to the city off to his left. The angel then looked behind him to see how far away from the bunker he was. He couldn't even see it anymore. Good.

He looked ahead of him, sighed, and started to walk on. Castiel heightened his senses to make sure he wasn't being followed, and he wasn't…well, that was until he reached about two miles away from the bunker.

There was someone hiding behind a tree. He tried not to move his head, so that it wouldn't make the person tailing him suspicious. He tried to calculate how far away the person was when, suddenly, he felt something sharp pinch him in the neck. Castiel groaned in pain, hand reaching up to his neck to find a dart. A dart? No, that wouldn't affect him, he was too powerful for that.

That was when the world began to spin. He felt himself stumble a few steps as he moaned in pain from being so dizzy. So, this is what a dart feels like, huh?

The world went dark as his face collided with the dark gravel below him.

* * *

After breakfast, Dean and Sam went back to researching. About a half an hour went by before Sam looked up at the bunker's front door. He just stared at it for a few minutes before turning to Dean and asking, "Shouldn't Cass be back by now?"

Dean glanced up at his little brother before going back to his boring book as he said, "Not my problem."

Sam let his own book drop to his lap. "Oh, come on. I know that you're mad at him and everything, but you don't _hate_ him!"

Dean sighed and finally put his book down and put on a sarcastic smile. "Yeah? What do you want to do about it? Do you wanna drop everything and go find him?"

Sam looked away. "Well-"

"Sam, Cass can take care of himself. And besides…" He went back to skimming through his book. "…he didn't want our help last time."

* * *

Castiel's head was swimming when he finally opened his eyes. They blinked a few times before they adjusted enough to see that he was in some sort of…dungeon? No, it was too much like a basement to be a dungeon. Yes, it was more like a very long basement.

He tried to move his hands, only to notice they were tied to the chair he was sitting on. He groaned in annoyance before his head started swimming again. When he looked around, everything from about two feet away from himself was blurred out in waves by the heat that rose from the holy fire surrounding him. Castiel also noticed that he was practically litteredin scuffs and bruises that stung every time he so much as blinked.

Castiel waited there in the basement taking in the metal door and table with creepy, witchy things on it in front of him. Oh, dammit. Was he _seriously_ kidnapped by a _witch_? How pathetic.

Suddenly, after about fifteen minutes of wondering what was going on, the metal door in front of him opened. It revealed a middle-aged woman with dark-brown hair. But when Castiel studied her carefully, he realized something wrong with her eyes: they were glass.

The blind woman smirked as she said slyly, "Hello, Castiel."

The angel moved his head up to look at her and asked in a painful growl, "How do you know me? Who are you?"

The woman stepped forward until she was so close she could touch him. "Oh, everyone knows you. You didn't know that?"

"Well, why do _you_ know me?" Castiel asked again.

The woman smirked more and went around the table. "Name's Shlooped Shnob!"

Castiel paused for a long time before finally whispering quietly, "What an unfortunate name…."

Shlooped stopped and snapped, "I'll have you know that I come from a very honorable family! The Shnobs are _very_ well-respected in…some parts! And 'Shlooped' is a very great, beautiful name! It was my great grandmother's…."

Castiel hesitated, his lips parted slightly as he looked down, trying to process his next question. "Your family is…well-respected? Who are you?

Shlooped smirked and gestured to the table where all sorts of weird ingredients and books sat. "I'm a witch! A very powerful one actually!" She answered proudly.

The angel hesitated before whispering to himself, "So that's why your name is so strange… You're a witch?"

"Stop talking about my name!"

Castiel ignored her. He furrowed his brow and growled seriously, "And what do you want from me?"

"What do you _think_ a witch would want with an angel?"

The angel shrugged. "All sorts of things: power, protection, spells, information. But I'm asking what _you_ want me for."

Shlooped's smirk reappeared on her face as she traced her fingers along a bowl on her witchy table. "I want ingredients. Fresh ingredients, so I—annoyingly—can't just go out and _buy_ them."

Castiel's eyebrows furrowed, and he couldn't tell if it was out of confusion or fear of what was about to happen to him. "What ingredients?"

The witch's smirk widened as she lifted up a metal bowl that looked almost complete for a spell. "Angel blood and feathers. And I need the feathers _just_ after they've been plucked from their…from _your_ wing."

Castiel's eyes widened. "No, you're not…!"

"How do you think people get angel feathers for spells?" Shlooped laughed. "They just take pigeon feathers, bless it, and hope for the best?"

The angel looked around with stunned eyes. "I…I knew how one got angel feathers, but…"

"You didn't think that's what I captured you for?" the witch finished. She then laughed as she brought up an angel blade. The witch then circled around the table.

Castiel looked down at the floor, knowing that what would be following would surely be some of the worst pain he could ever experience. "Why…why me? Why are you doing this to me? Because I was just the first angel you saw?"

Shlooped smirked as she shook her head and crouched down to Castiel's level, which made it easier for the angel to see how forced her smile actually was. "No, I actually tracked you down. All the way to Lebanon, Kansas. But once your signal got cold, I stayed in a little cabin nearby. Luckily, you came out of your stupid, little hiding spot and I was able to capture you!"

Castiel narrowed his eyes in confusion. "And why were you trying to find me?"

The witch's smile suddenly looked more forced than ever as she explained, "Because you're a _part_ of the spell!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" The angel was starting to get irritated that she wasn't being very clear.

"Well, I'm certain you already have seen my eyes." Shlooped assumed as she stood up and pulled up a chair to sit in. "So, this spell I'm going to do is, apparently, going to make me new eyes."

Castiel waited for a while before realizing that that was the end of her explanation. "I still don't understand what that has to do with me, though."

Shlooped's face grew into an annoyed scowl. "Do you _seriously_ not remember me?" The angel's confused expression and silence was enough of an answer for her. " _You_ did this to me, _Castiel_ …!" She finally explained as she grinned his name through her teeth.

The angel's confusion turned into surprise. "I did what?"

" _You_ burned my eyes out! Back in the thirteen-hundreds when I wasn't even a witch yet!" Shlooped leaned forward with hate in her voice. "You came down to the Earth in your trueform, and burned out all the eyes in my village with your _'Greatness'_!" The hated in her tone was laced with mockery as she spoke. "The Grand Coven came to me after that. I was about to die like the rest of my family, but they said I had 'potential', whatever the hell that means, and I became a witch, all the while searching for a way of punishing _you_!"

Castiel looked extremely surprised by the story, suddenly remembering the poor, unfortunate village he had destroyed with his trueform. Back then, though he was fascinated by mankind, he cared more about the mission he'd had than healing everyone in the village. But, that Castiel was a different person. He was not the same as he was back then. "Sh… Shlooped… I'm sorry… I didn't-"

"Don't give me that crap!" The witch sprang forward and sliced the side of the angel's arm, making him groan in pain. "You didn't care about me and my family then, and you don't care now!" Shlooped then stood straight and twirled her blade in her hands. "Now, I'm going to push and prod at a few spots until you show me what I brought you here for." And she was suddenly tracing the angel blade across his abdomen as the witch demanded in a hushed voice, "Show me…your trueform…!"

* * *

After about ten minutes of staring back and forth between his book, his brother, and the door, Sam had had quite enough. With everything. He'd had enough with the pain of the trials, the stupid fight Dean and Cass were having, and-and he'd had enough with the _world_. If he could have his way right now, he'd go to his room, flop down on his bed, and tell everyone he was done with everything and would wait for inevitable blast-wave for the sun to explode.

The youngest hunter slammed the book that he had been reading shut, making his brother jump, almost making the files he was examining fly out of his hands. "That's it!" Sam exclaimed. "I can't take it anymore!"

"Can't take what?" Dean asked as his brother stood from his seat.

"You know what, man!"

"What? Cass?" Dean spread his arms out slightly in confusion.

"Yes! You two are best friends and you're completely ignoring the fact he might be in trouble!"

"Sam, Cass said he wanted some alone time and, besides, he can handle himself!"

"Dean, he told me _right_ beforehe left, that he would be gone for _five minutes_! You know how long he's been out?" Sam paused as Dean looked around.

"Ten? Twenty minutes?" His brother guessed.

" _Forty_ minutes!" Sam corrected.

Dean paused as he took that in before looking around for a clock. He then asked in shock and disgust, "We've been just _reading_ for forty minutes?"

"That's not- What I'm saying is: Cass wouldn't be gone for thirty-five minutes longer than he said. When he says 'five minutes' he _means_ 'five minutes'!" Dean nodded slightly in agreement. "So, either he ran away, got captured, or got hurt, but, like, broke-his-leg hurt."

Sam's older brother looked around before rubbing the bridge of his nose as he muttered in an irritated voice, "Alright, alright… what'd ya say we give it…how 'bout _five_ more minutes? If he isn't back by then, we'll go find him. Sound good?"

Sam glanced back at the door. If Cass was in any danger, he could handle five more minutes, right?

* * *

Castiel could _not_ handle any more of this pain. He had to give it to her, she was good at torture for a seven-hundred year old blind woman with a name that sounded like, literally, 'Stupid'. Then again, she probably had been preparing her whole life for this moment. And, though what happened to her was sad, yes, he couldn't help but feeling like she was being a little immature over the whole ordeal.

Shlooped stepped back, growling in frustration. She then slapped him unnaturally hard across the face as she screamed, "Show me your trueform!"

The angel stayed silent. Though the pain was excruciating and he was bleeding _everywhere_ , he had had worse. So, he could handle worse.

The witch walked back over to her table and started tracing her fingers across everything, probably thinking of more ideas. "What am I gonna have to do to-" Suddenly, her hands froze as they moved across something and Castiel could practically _feel_ her unsettling smirk. "I just remembered something interesting about you, Castiel."

"Yeah? And what's that?" Castiel rasped out in deep gasps.

Shlooped turned around to him with a massive smirk on as she held up a piece of electronics. "You have two human pets…!"

Castiel's eyes widened in horror as he stared at his phone in the witch's hands. "No…"

* * *

Sam kept glancing over at his watch, which Dean would always catch and tell that he shouldn't worry and that Cass was probably fine. And he guessed that that should be the most logical thought, or at least, normal. But being comforted by the person who was acting like they _hated_ the guy he was worried about, kind of defeated the purpose of comfort. And Sam couldn't shake the aching feeling that his friend was in danger, as well.

It had been about four minutes since their discussion when Dean's phone suddenly started to ring. Neither of them assumed that it was their missing friend because of the fact that he was the reason why Cass left in the first place, but the older hunter held up his phone to show his brother the caller id, which read 'CASTIEL'.

Sam jumped up from his seat as he whispered to Dean, "Put in on speaker."

Dean did as he was told and then answered it. "Cass?" He asked immediately.

Suddenly, on the other end, a woman started snickering evilly, which creeped out both the Winchesters for two reasons: one, it was just creepy in-on-itself with the first thought crossing their minds that Castiel was the one on the other end, and two, that meant Castiel had been with someone the entire time, and by the sound of her voice, he hadn't gotten lucky.

"Castiel can't come to the phone right now." the woman's sly voice answered.

Dean stood to his feet. "Who the hell are you and what have you done to Cass, you bitch!" His suddenly protective tone took Sam by surprise. Looks like he was right in the fact that Dean still did care about the nerdy, little angel.

"Oh, well, nothing yet…kinda…" she snickered again.

"The hell does that mean!?" the older Winchester snapped. "Cass!? Cass, are you there!?"

"Oh, yes, 'Cass' is here." There were shuffling noises, like she was moving the phone. "Say 'hi', Cass!"

There was silence before Castiel's groan of pain sounded through the phone, like she had just hurt him in some way to force a noise out of him.

"You creepy bitch!" Dean snapped. "What are you doing to him!?"

"Well, right there I just stepped on his foot, but there's probably a dislocated bone in there somewhere from before. We were having a _bunch_ of fun, weren't we, Cass?" The woman responded, then waiting for Castiel to respond. Instead, the woman started groaning in disgust after there was a sound like the angel had just spat in her face. "Ugh, you two _really_ need to teach him about _manners_!"

Dean seemed to not want to talk to the woman anymore as he then called, "Cass, where are you!? What is she doing to you!?"

"Dean," Castiel's raspy voice that was laced with pain sounded through the phone finally. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Just, whatever you do, don't go outside! She can't find you if you're inside!"

The woman hummed with interest. "Inside _where_?"

Dean complete ignored the woman again. "Bullshit! Cass, where the hell are you!?"

"Just start walking, sweetheart!" the woman answered. "I'll find you one way or another!"

"Cass!" Dean started, but the other end hung up. "Dammit!" The hunter snapped as he threw the phone across the room.

Sam laced his fingers through his hair. "What do we do now!?"

"I don't know!" Dean put his hands on the table with all the different assortments of files. "Let me think, let me think!" They weren't even waiting for three seconds, before Dean cursed and started to move towards the metal staircase in the crow's nest.

Sam called, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make her find us!" The older hunter answered.

Sam looked around. "Isn't that a little reckless?"

Dean turned to look at his brother as he was heading up the stairs. "Got any better ideas then?"

They just stared at each other before Sam followed as he answered quickly, "No."

The two brothers found themselves outside of the bunker, just walking. Waiting for a sign of their friend or any way to get to him. And they continued on their way before Dean looked down at his watch to see that they had been walking for fifteen minutes now.

The older hunter stopped as he said in frustration, "This isn't working!"

Sam turned around to him. "Come on, man! He has to be here somewhere!" And suddenly, as he started to continue walking, something flew out from the trees and stabbed Sam in the neck.

"Sammy!" Dean called, but suddenly felt a sharp pinch on his neck, as well. "Dammit!" And before he could take out the dart that was lodged into his skin, his face collided with the ground and the world went dark.


	2. The Celestial Pen Pal

_Hello, again! How'd you like chapter 1? Do you love the story yet? Don't answer that, you're too soon into it to tell. But if do love it already, I'm not judging! :)_

 _Now, I know I just published the last chapter yesterday, but I had some time on my hands and wrote two whole chapters today. So, now I have this chapter and the next one to publish! I can't make any promises, but if you enjoy this chapter, I'll probably be so bored tomorrow, I'll be able write chapter 4 then publish chapter 3 tomorrow. But then again, I have no idea how long that'll take. I definitely know that I'm not publishing a chapter without having the next one ready, but- Ah! I'm rambling... Sorry, I'll wrap this up._

 _This chapter is pretty important, this is where the actual plot starts, so I hope you like the idea! (I'm a little worried, actually) I'd also like to thank Strix Prudens for editing this story! Her One Piece fanfictions are pretty great, so if you like One Piece, go check her out! :D_

 _Enjoy this chapter! And don't forget to review! Those reviews really keep me motivated, so if you like it, I'd love to hear that! :D It definitely makes me publish the next chapter faster._

* * *

Dean woke with his head spinning. Where was he? His eyes focused a little and he noticed he was in a long basement with crates and old shelves everywhere. He was tied to a chair in front of a metal door and a creepy-looking table that had all sorts of witchy things on it. He suddenly realized that there was heat to his right, and when he looked down, he noticed it was…fire? In a ring…. Holy fire…!

"Dean!" A familiar, raspy voice called. When the hunter looked up, in the direction of the voice, his eyes focused completely on his lost friend, Castiel.

"Cass…?" he murmured. The angel had a worried look on his face, as if wondering if his friend was okay. "Cass! Hey, man!" Dean then looked to his left to find his brother waking up as well. "Sammy!"

Sam blinked at him before surprise and relief replaced the confusion. "Dean!" The younger man looked around. "Where are we?"

"You're in my basement," a woman's voice answered from in front of them.

Dean looked over at the table and noticed a middle-aged woman behind the 'witch-machine'. "Who are-" He suddenly stopped as he noticed her eyes. They were weird and…unmoving… "Do you… do you have _two_ glass eyes!?" The woman looked taken aback. "Wouldn't it be easier if you, I don't know, just closed your eyes?"

The eyebrows above the fake eyes furrowed in anger. "I'm not closing my eyes for the rest of my life!"

"Why _not_!?" Dean asked. "It'd be way easier to go to sleep, for one. You'd be one step ahead of everybody else!"

"Okay, enough with the glass eyes thing!" the woman snapped.

There was a pause before Sam spoke up. "Who are you?"

The woman smirked as she asked him, "Oh… you're the one doing the trials, aren't you?" The three friends became taken aback by this. "Well, I can't have that now… After all, as a witch, I _do_ bow down to demon or two." Sam shifted in his chair. The woman then grabbed a vial full of red liquid from the table, walked over to the younger hunter, and suddenly forced the contents into his mouth.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted.

The said hunter shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth. A painful moan came from his mouth, but then, suddenly, all the pain he had been experiencing from before was gone. Sam looked up at the witch in surprise.

"There! Now the effects of the trials are gone and the only way you could be able to accomplish them is if you restarted the whole process!" the witch announced with glee.

"You bitch!" Dean snapped.

The witch only smiled at Dean and ignored his comment. She then looked down at the angel blade she was fiddling with in her hands. "And for your previous question, my name's Shlooped Shnob and I-"

"Stupid Snob?" Dean interrupted.

"What?" Shlooped stopped.

"Did you just say that your name was 'Stupid Snob'?" Dean repeated. "Are you joking, or did your parents just hate you?"

Shlooped's face crinkled up into an expression of annoyance and hissed back at him. "No, _Shlooped Shnob_."

"Yeah, Stupid Snob, that's what I said."

"No! _Shhhhloooped Shhhhhnob_!" The witch repeated, slower as if she was talking to a two year old.

"That's just a sad name, no matter what," Sam commented with a sad frown.

"Aaahhh!" Shlooped screamed. "Nevermind! Forget about the name!"

"I can't!" Dean said. "It's stupidest name I've ever heard!"

"Dean!" Sam shouted, realizing that they needed to shut up if they wanted to be safe, though he had to agree, her name didn't make her sound threatening _at all._

Shlooped sighed and started to explain. "So, before any of you two ask, I don't care about you at all. Which is the exact reason I brought you here." Dean's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth flipped into a deep frown of confusion at her comment.

"Wait… what…?" he voiced.

She moved her head to face Castiel. "I needed something to force 'Cass', here, to give me what I want…!"

"Give you what you want?" Dean repeated. "What are you talking about? Cass doesn't… Cass doesn't do your kinky shit!" He looked over at Castiel who was holding his head down. Dean's eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. "Or does he…? Cass, have you been hiding something from us, again!? Is that why you come home late on Fridays? I should've know…!"

"N-no, Dean!" Sam barked. "You're confusing reality with porn! _Again!_ You gotta stop, man!"

"No!" the witch growled, "I need something from him! He has ingredients that I need for a spell that is very important to me!"

Dean turned to Castiel with a betrayed expression. "Cass? Have you been hiding something from us? Again?! I can't believe you, Cass!"

Castiel looked up at Dean with an expression of shock, a bit of pain reflected in his eyes. "What!? No! I wouldn't-"

Shlooped paused, looking between the two before finally narrowing her eyes in satisfaction of her brilliant plan. "Oh, no, he is," Shlooped answered slyly. "He's been hiding it for _quite_ some time, now."

"Cass!" the hunter scolded.

"No! You don't even know what she's talking about!" Castiel defended. "I can't show you my-"

"Doesn't matter, Castiel," the witch stated. "You still hid it from them."

"Does _anybody_ know what we're even talking about?" Sam asked.

Shlooped fiddled with the angel blade in her hands as she slowly made her way over to the angel. "The truth is out, Castiel. Now your friends are mad that you didn't show them. And I _need_ it. So, why don't you do all of us a _huge_ favor, and show us what you've been hiding?"

Castiel only gritted his teeth and growled, "Never!"

Shlooped only shrugged as she said, "Okay, have it you way." She went up to Dean and put the blade up to his chest. "I'll just carve out your beloved human's heart and when I'm done with this one, I'll move on to the giant and do the same!"

The angel's face filled with pure hatred. "You wouldn't _dare_ …!"

"Oh, would I?" the witch taunted. Suddenly, she started to press the angel blade into Dean's chest as the hunter groaned in pain.

Castiel's hatred jolted out of him and was quickly replaced by fear. "No! Stop!" But to his disappointment, she kept drilling the blade closer to his heart, making Dean's groaning turn into screams.

"Dean!" Sam shouted in fear.

"Stop!" Castiel demanded. And he kept shouting as his friend continued screaming until, "Okay! Okay! I'll show you my trueform!" This made Sam and Dean's faces fill with shock.

Shlooped stopped pushing the blade any farther into the hunter's chest, but did not take it out just yet. "You will? Do you swear?"

Castiel hung his head and muttered, "Yes, yes. I… I swear…"

"Cass, no!" Sam demanded and Dean's face showed he agreed. But the angel just stared at them with an apologetic look. "Don't give her whatever the hell she wants with your trueform!"

Castiel glanced down at the floor before looking back up at his two friends. After a few seconds, he faced the witch again, who was smirking. "Let me see it then!" she demanded as she ripped the angel blade out from Dean's chest.

The angel took a deep breath and told Dean and Sam, "Close your eyes."

Once the two hunters did so hesitantly, Castiel opened his vessel's mouth and bright light suddenly erupted from within him. Sam and Dean felt a powerful force of strange…heat? No, it was the combination of hot and cold, but it wasn't 'warm'. Their faces felt like they were about to be ripped off. Suddenly, they could hear the witch chanting something. Was that Enochian? Yes, it was an Enochian spell. There was also an extremely high-pitched, inaudible tone, which Dean recognized as Castiel's voice back from when he first came back from Hell. However, the ringing gradually transformed into a screech that was almost identical to an eagle. And before they knew it, the force and light was suddenly gone, which suddenly terrified the Winchesters. What had she done to their friend?

They opened their eyes quickly and looked over at Castiel in his chair, the holy fire now extinguished. But to their horror, their friend was completely limp and pale white with his mouth and eyes wide open. He was dead.

"Cass!" Dean screamed. That was when he realized the new presence in the room. The hunter looked down to see a young man passed out on the floor. He probably was in his early twenties and had long, wavy, black hair that stopped at his shoulders. He wore a white, ripped toga that was wrapped around one shoulder and hung across his chest, a light blue cloth acted as a belt for the toga as it was wrapped around his waist securely. His legs were strapped tightly with leather sandals. It was as if he had just come from Greek times. The only strange things about him were the fact that he had silvery-blue liquid running down from cuts that were scattered around him, and what was on his back: enormous, black wings. Yes, the young man sprawled out on the floor had the most gorgeous, black wings Dean had ever seen spread out six feet—or more—on either side of him. "Oh my god…!"

"Who is…?" Sam began as he stared down at the young man as well. "No, that's not…!"

Shlooped chuckled, "Yes, it is!" She went over to Castiel's empty vessel and threw him out of the chair, then she turned to the man on the ground and hoisted him into the seat.

The force of being thrown in the chair suddenly made the young man groan and bring his hand up to his head. But once his fingers felt his shoulder-length hair his dazzlingly blue eyes shot open. He looked around, at the Winchesters, then down at himself. And all of the sudden, once he caught a glimpse at himself, a gasp erupted from his mouth and he stared down at his hand in horror. Then his head whipped around to stare at his wings which stretched out behind him, but this only made the man gasp again. Once again, he looked at the Winchesters, eyes now full of shock and fear, and suddenly tried in a hushed voice with a strange accent, "Dean? Sam?" Once he said this, he gasped again and grabbed his neck, as if surprised by how his voice sounded.

Dean looked at the man harder. "Who…? Who are you?"

The young man looked startled, and slightly hurt, that the hunter asked that. "You-" He paused, seemingly still disturbed by his own voice. "You don't know who I am!?" He then looked down at himself before muttering, "Oh…"

"I…" Dean stared into the man's blue eyes, there was something about them that was familiar… something that reminded him of… "Cass…?"

The young man smiled slightly and his wings perked up a bit as he nodded and said in his strange accent, "Yes…!"

Dean and Sam's eyes widened as they stared at the young man before them. The guy had to only be about twenty, twenty-five _at the most_! That… that couldn't be right! Could it...?

Shlooped chuckled again and went back to her angel blade. "Now! Time to get what I did all of this for!" She grabbed a metal bowl with different powders and herbs and put it on—apparently—Castiel's leg. The witch then grabbed his wrist, moved it over the bowl, and with the angel blade in her hand, she slid the metal across his skin. The strange thing, however, was that, instead of the liquid that spewed from it being a deep red, it was a glowing silvery-blue.

Castiel groaned in pain, a high-pitched noise coming from the back of his throat that got louder once he opened his mouth, but he closed it once again the moment the witch was finished. He then looked down at the strange blood and, to his surprise, didn't heal.

"Ah…!" Shlooped moved the bowl around, spreading Castiel's blood throughout it. She then put the bowl down on her table and went around to stand at his back. The beautiful wings suddenly folded up tightly the closer the witch's hands got to them and Castiel's face filled with determination to protect his wings. "Oh, come now, Castiel! I need them for my spell!" The wings folded in more. "You do want _them_ to survive, don't you?" The witch asked as she gestured to the brothers at the angel's side. Castiel stared at Sam and Dean again before opening up his wings, only slightly, though. Shlooped smirked and viciously yanked five large, black feathers from his wing, which made them start to flap violently. The force of the wind that was created from the flapping wing was so great, Dean thought his chair was going to fall over.

The witch smiled as she felt the feathers in her hands, ran to the metal bowl, and dropped them into the mixture. Immediately, Shlooped started to chant something in Latin and her eyes started to glow. Suddenly, once she had stopped, her glass irises dilated and became real. Her smile widened as she looked around, but once she laid eyes on Castiel, she frowned and said, "You're older than I remember."

"What!?" Dean felt himself say. One, because of her comment: Cass looked _so_ young—he couldn't imagine how young his friend looked when she apparently met him; and two, because what her spell was for. "That was it!? That was your amazingly important spell!? Making your glass eyes real!?"

Shlooped glared at Dean in confusion. "Yes…?" Sam frowned in confusion of why she herself sounded confused along with them.

"Can't you just get a transplant!?" Dean snapped.

"Yeah, that would've been easier," Sam agreed bluntly.

The witch's glare turned sour. "I've had enough of you! You and your stupid remarks!"

"No, my remarks weren't stupid, your name is though. Even your parents knew that," the older hunter commented with a sly smirk, liking his joke.

Suddenly, Shlooped's sour glare turned into that of hatred and despise. "That's it! I've had _more_ than enough of you and that angel!" she snapped as her finger pointed at the three of them. Her glance shifted to Castiel. "You know, I was about to put you back in your vessel! But now that your human pet has bugged the _crap_ out of me, I'll just leave you like that!" The three friends' eyes widened in shock. "Now, get the hell out of my house!"

Suddenly, all three of them were falling from the sky. Sam looked around in shock and fear, Dean in just straight-up fear—so much so, that his arms and legs were flailing all about—and Castiel looked from the ground to his two flightless friends in worry. He heard the two of them start to scream, mostly Dean, and suddenly shot towards them, wrapped them in his arms, and spread his massive wings out, which brought them to a glide. But the weight of all three of them wasn't enough for his wings, and they found themselves falling through the branches of trees. Once they hit the ground, consciousness slapped them in the face, put on its hat, and closed the door behind it.

* * *

Dean woke to the branches of the trees above him spinning out of control. He had a massive headache and his back was sore. Then, the hunter noticed he was lying on something hard as he was spread out across a soft bed of…something. Dean moved his fingers on the soft bed and noticed it was made up of large feathers. Large feathers….

He suddenly whipped his head to the left to see a young face next to him with locks of his long, wavy hair draping across it. Castiel.

That was when Dean realized he was laying on his friend's wing and arm. The hunter sat up quickly and looked down at his friend. He saw Sam laying across Castiel's other arm and wing just as he was. Feeling creeped out, Dean looked around the forest to see if anyone had seen him and his friends sleeping together. Fortunately, no one was.

Dean reached his hand out to hover over Castiel's shoulder. It froze there as he looked down at the surprisingly young face with long hair. So, that was his best friend? That was the hidden face he had never been allowed to see? It was so hard to explain the feeling he had at that moment. It was almost like if you had had a pen pal for so long and thought of them as your best friend, almost like your brother, and then they had sent you a picture of themselves, showing that they were a little older than you, but when you finally meet them, they turn out to be a twelve year old. Yes, that was almost exactly how it was. Except... you'd probably be angry you'd been lied to by a twelve year old, so, without the anger, then.

Dean shook his head, shooing away his thoughts. He lowered his hand to Castiel's shoulder and shook it gently as he said, "Hey…!"

The corner of Castiel's lip turned down in a groan as his head lifted slightly and his eyes opened to look at Dean. Jimmy Novak's eyes were already crazy-blue, but the hunter swore that the eyes he looked into now had to be glowing they were so magnificent. "Dean…?"

The hunter moved out of the way of Castiel's wing that was now folding up slightly. The other wing did the same, which surprised Sam and he shot up into a sitting position immediately. "Hey, Sammy." Dean put up his hand in greeting.

"Dean?" Sam asked in shock. Castiel sat up slightly with the help of his own hand behind him. The younger hunter looked over at the angel, who was rubbing his sore head. "Cass?"

Castiel groaned in greeting as he brought up his magnificent wings. They then started to fold in and out slowly, like he was stretching them. Sam and Dean watched them in wonder, which the angel seemed to catch once he looked back up at them and asked in his strange accent, "What?"

The Winchesters became suddenly embarrassed of how mesmerizing they thought their friend's wings were and they began murmuring things how about they didn't know what he meant. Castiel, fortunately, shrugged it off and leaned forward.

Sam caught that the angel's face was ridden with pain. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" The angel looked up at the giant man. "Oh, yeah. I, uh... Just the landing was pretty hard on me."

Dean didn't know what he meant until Sam clarified. "What, you mean falling from the sky?"

Castiel nodded. The older hunter suddenly realized that, for just falling from the sky and through tree branches, he felt pretty good. At first, he thought all of them were like that, but now realized that Cass was feeling the symptoms. Why? And why was Sam and him in Cass' arms when they woke up? That was when it hit him. "Cass, did you take the fall for us?"

The angel looked up at Dean with surprise. His gaze then shifted to Sam, who had the same question, then back to Dean. He sighed and answered, "Yes… But its fine! Falling that far wouldn't hurt me as much it would hurt you."

"Cass!" Sam shouted. "You just were _tortured_!"

"And you're suffering from the trials!" Castiel defended.

Sam opened his mouth to retort back, but closed it and rubbed his head in what looked like frustration. "No, I'm not…"

"What?" Dean asked.

"Remember?" Sam looked over at his brother. "That witch took away the effects of the trials. Which means that if we're going to close the Gates of Hell, we're going to have to start all over again!"

Dean just stared at his brother for a few seconds before screaming, "Dammit!" He buried his head in his hands for a minute or two before looking back up at Sam. "Alright, then we'll start over then!"

"That won't be easy, Dean," Castiel spoke up. "What did you have to do for the last two? Kill a Hellhound and bringing a damned soul up to Heaven? And weren't those just coincidences when they actually happened? Think of how difficult it would be to do those _again_."

Dean looked away before returning to Castiel. "Dammit, Cass! Then what are we supposed to do!?"

The angel stared at the ground as he shrugged and shook his head. "I…I don't know."

The hunter glanced between his brother and friend, who both had sad faces on. "No, we're not giving up on this one!"

"What else do we do, Dean!?" Sam demanded. "Because to me, that seems like our only option! Cass is right! We had such a hard time doing the last two, so how hard do you think it'll be the second time!?"

Dean stood to his feet and shook his head. "No…! We'll find another way,like we _always_ do!"

"How, Dean!?" Sam shouted back to his brother. "Because from where I'm standing, we're screwed!" Dean turned to look at him. "We're back to square-one, Cass can't even put on a shirt anymore, and we're stuck in the middle of a forest with no car or phone because we left the bunker so quickly, we didn't ever think about that! So, I'll say it again, we're screwed!"

The older hunter took a minute or two to process what his brother had said. And the scary part was: all of it was true. He felt himself start to nod as he muttered, "You're… you're right, Sammy…" He looked up at his brother waiting for some kind of next-step-mission. Dammit, he didn't have that, though. His eyes then moved over to Castiel, who looked so tired he swore the angel was about to pass out. They needed to get to somewhere for him to rest, but how? And what was more important: renting out a motel room, per say, or finding their way back to the bunker? The hunter sighed, shook his head, and reached into his pockets to find he had brought his wallet. Dean almost wept with relief as he was able to bring it out of his pocket to show his brother. "What d'ya say we go find a town and something to disguise Cass with?"


	3. Mechanical Wings

_Welcome back, Supernatural fans! I told you I'd have another chapter out today! After my sister read me Cass' death in the famous fanfiction, Twist and Shout, I thought I was going to die of sadness! I still have a headache! Which is weird, because I don't ship Destiel, so to cry over that fanfiction... Ugh... It was the greatest story of all time. You should/shouldn't read it. So, anyway, I wanted to write something to cheer me up, so I wrote this!_

 _I'll probably post the next chapter for my other fanfiction, Pipe Dream, before I publish the next chapter of this. But, I will be back next week. The weekends are going to be busier for a month or two than the weekdays are, so..._

 _This chapter's, in my opinion, funnier than the last two, so it might be more enjoyable! Sorry it's so short, though! I do have to tell you, though, Cass is a little bit different than how he usually is. But, there's a reason! The next chapter will explain that! Don't worry, I will never write anything without it having a meaning behind it._

 _But, without further ado, here's the next chapter! Please, don't forget to review to this chapter! Tell me what you thought was funny or interesting! Do you like how Cass is? What are you excited to see? Do you want anything to happen to them? Because I'd love to know!_

 _Thanks! XD_

* * *

Sam, Dean, and Castiel had been walking for about five minutes or so before they came across a thin strip of dirt. "What's this?" Castiel asked.

Sam and Dean stared at it for a while before the younger brother gasped and looked up and down the strip of dirt. "Oh, my god…!"

"What?" Dean asked.

"It's a trail!" Sam answered with a smile. He whipped around, showing his brother and friend his wide grin. "Do you know what this means!?"

"Uhh…" Castiel voiced with narrowed eyes, furrowed brow, and confusion written all over his face as he tried to think of a reason.

"That means this is a park…!" Dean muttered in realization before his angel-friend could give a guess. "Which means there's people here!"

Sam and Dean smiled at each other before Castiel mumbled, "Ohh…!" This made them look at their friend, making their smiles drop once they spotted his giant wings.

Dean looked back at Sam with a completely irritated face. "Oh, great! How in the hell are we gonna get help with _him_ part of our party!?" Castiel's head went back as his face totally screamed, 'Ex _cuse_ me?' "No one's gonna want to help someone with six-to-seven-foot wings strapped to their back!"

Sam frowned in agreement before looking over at their injured friend. That was when the young hunter's eyes landed on the light blue cloth that acted as Castiel's belt. "Cass…" He looked up at his friend's eyes as he told him, "I need your belt."

Castiel's eyes narrowed and his head tilted in confusion as he said with a shocked tone, "My _what_!?"

* * *

The three friends found a family walking down the trail. There was a mother, a father, and their son and daughter, who both couldn't be much older than ten. Sam and Dean looked at each other and nodded. Dean then turned to Castiel and wrapped his arm under his friend's armpit, which the angel complied with what the hunter was asking for and wrapped his own arm over Dean's shoulders as he looked as hurt as possible and held the rest of his toga in place.

"Ah! Excuse me! Excuse me!" Sam called with his hand stretched out. The parents of the family looked at their small group with suspicion and moved closer to their children. "Oh, thank god! Please, can you help us!?"

"With what?" the father asked, suspicion clear in his voice as he eyed Castiel and then looking over his enormous wings.

"It's our brother!" Sam explained with urgency as he gestured at the angel. "Some people at his college are pretty mean to him and last night, well, it got a little too far… They dressed him up as an angel!" He patted Castiel's black wings that had light blue cloth wrapped around them and his shoulders, looking as if it was just a costume. "And threw him out here in the park…! They banged him up pretty bad and being lost in the forest at night didn't help at all."

"When he didn't come home yesterday night, we got worried," Dean continued. "And his friends said he was out here, but by the time we found him out here, the people who did this to him hijacked our car!"

"So, now we're stuck in the forest with no car and a hurt brother…" Sam finished with a sad voice.

"Oh, well, we have a car," the mother offered. "And we were just making our way back."

"Jane!" the father hissed in a hushed voice.

"Henry, what's the matter with helping out a few lost men?" Jane looked over at Castiel's tired face, who was meeting her gaze. "Especially when one of them is hurt."

"But we have no idea who they are or-" Henry began.

" _Henry_!" Jane scolded slightly. "Do they _look_ dangerous?"

Henry looked over at Dean and scowled. "One of them does…" Dean looked up at him in shock then turned towards Sam with a face that voiced, 'Seriously?'

"Come on, one time couldn't hurt!" the woman said then looked back at the three friends with a wide smile. "We'll _gladly_ give you a ride, boys!"

Sam and Dean returned her bright smile as the younger hunter said with a relieved voice, "Oh, thank you _so_ much!"

Dean looked down at his friend in his arms. "Did you hear that, Cass!? We're getting a ride!"

Castiel glanced up at the hunter and murmured, "Yes, I heard, Dean. I'm right here, you know." They could hear the mother of the family chuckle at the angel's comment.

"So, your names are Dean and Cass?" She looked over at the giant man in front of them. "Who are you?"

The younger man hesitated before answering, "Sam."

The mother smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, Sam. I'm Jane and this is my husband, Henry." Jane gestured to the man behind her. "My son's name is Thomas and my daughter is Hannah."

Sam smiled at them all. "Nice to meet you! And thank you, so much!"

They all began walking down the dirt path together. Every so often, Castiel would slip a little and Dean would catch him, but besides that, nothing happened.

"So, why an angel?" Henry suddenly asked, suspicion still in his voice. Basic dad, huh?

"Huh?" Sam voiced.

"Why'd his friends dress him up like an _angel_? Out of all the things…" Henry repeated, impatience rang loudly in his tone.

"Umm…" Sam began, but his brother interrupted him.

"Because they weren't his friends and angels are dicks," Dean's comment was laced with a joke as his mouth was turned up in a smile at how funny he thought he was. However, the hunter's mood completely changed when he looked up to see Henry glaring at him after his comment. He turned away from him again and murmured to himself so that no one else could hear, expect maybe Castiel, "Of _course_ they'd be religious freaks…! Why wouldn't they be…!? That's all we ever meet nowadays, anyway…!"

Then after a while, once Dean had started to pay attention again, he realized they were in a parking lot heading towards a large SUV. The parents of the family started to tell their children to sit in the backseat and once they were in, Jane faced the three men behind her.

She frowned as she said while pointing at Castiel's wings, "I think you're gonna have to take those off."

The three friend's faces suddenly flashed with horror and fear. "Umm…" Sam began. "No, no, he can keep them on."

Jane's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But… he can't fit in the car if he keeps the costume on."

"No, um, he needs the costume on," Dean explained.

"Why?"

"He, uh…" Dean looked around for an explanation. "He loves them. Right, Cass?" He asked as he looked down at his friend.

Castiel hesitated for a long time. He was obviously very confused at what was going on. However, he was snapped out of his confusion when Dean punched him hard in the side with his elbow, making Castiel suddenly respond loudly, "Oh, uh…yes! Yes. I love them so much. I love them so much that I feel as if it's literally _a part_ of me. And that I _literally_ can't take it off. It's a part of my body, and my soul, and it would be very painful to rip them off. I mean, that's the only way to take it off, actually: to rip them out of my shoulder blades. I mean, it's not like they're _real_ or anything! It's not like I'm an _actual_ angel or anything! That's crazy! Why would you think—" Dean punched his friend even harder in the side.

"Yeah," Dean agreed as he nodded. "Like he said, _more than enough_ , he can't take them off."

"They're, like, _glued_ to his body," Sam added.

"Except harder." Dean put in.

"And with flesh and bone." Castiel nodded, earning himself another punch from his friend, making Castiel feel as though he was going to cough up blue blood, which he almost did. Fortunately, the angel forced it to go back down his throat. It obviously wasn't normal to randomly spit up thick, blue blood, after all. That would definitely make them lose their ride.

Jane's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you say his _bullies_ put that on him?"

"Yes…!" Dean agreed, suddenly remembering their story. "But…that's because they were making fun of how much he likes them! They were trying to teach him how useless they are!" He could now feel the beads of sweat roll down his temple.

Castiel's face became extremely serious as said, "They're not useless, Dean."

"No, I know, man. I just-"

"If you want the ride so bad, you need to take them off!" Henry suddenly appeared behind Castiel. "Here, let me help you out a bit-" The man's hands started to lower towards the giant, black wings which made an instinct of Castiel's be triggered.

Castiel suddenly pulled away from Dean's hold, turned around, and stretched his wings out proudly. " _No!_ " the angel shouted. But once he moved his wings, Jane and Henry's jaws dropped.

"They…" Jane started.

"Move…?" Henry finished.

"Umm…!" Castiel looked back to his wings then at the two gaping people in front and behind him.

"Yes! They move!" Dean announced, making Sam and Castiel shoot glares at him, but he just returned them with a huge, cheesy grin. "Becaaaauuuse… They're mechanicaaaal!"

His brother's face erupted into a giant smile. "Yeees! They're mechanical! That's why he loves it so much! It's almost as if they're real!"

"Yes!" Dean turned to Castiel. "Go ahead, Cass! Show them how they move!" He then mouthed to his friend, "Mechanically."

Castiel glanced between Sam and Dean, as if worried that he was going to mess up. But, instead, he slowly rose his arms horizontally and, as he did so, his wings folded up. He then moved his hands back to his sides slowly as his wings stretched out again. Castiel repeated the process a few more times before Dean's smile widened into that of a real one, as if proud of his friend for making such believable movements.

Dean walked towards Castiel and clapped him on the back as he looked between Jane and Henry as he laughed, "Oh, my god! Isn't that amazing!?"

"Yes…!" Jane agreed. "It, uh, it is…!" The three friends were glad to see the astonishment in her face. They had convinced her, at least. Dean patted Castiel's back some more, making the angel turn to look at him. Dean stared at him with an extremely proud face on while Castiel's eyes slowly narrowed at him. The hunter could almost feel the annoyed aura that radiated from him, obviously embarrassed by the entire scenario. Castiel was so going to get back at him for this.

Jane's husband seemed a little skeptical, though he didn't look like he knew what else it could be, so he shrugged it off.

Sam and Dean were then seated in the two seats behind the family's children after they had stuffed Castiel into the trunk behind them.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay with being in the trunk?" Jane had asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Dean had answered for the angel. "He's cool with anything!"

Dean cleared his throat as he could hear Castiel whisper in his ear, " _I'll kill you…!_ " Dean turned his face halfway and smiled brightly at him, reaching over to slowly pat his head.

Once Jane had left to help her husband with something outside the car, Dean looked at his angel-friend behind him in the trunk, who kept shifting back in forth with a frustrated scowl. The hunter snickered as he asked Castiel, "Comfortable?"

The angel said nothing, but glared at him intensely, and moved his legs around to find a good place to put them. Dean caught a glance at his friend's wings, which looked like they were daring to flap in irritation. He suddenly reached forward and grabbed one of the giant wings when he felt like they were about snap open.

"Hey, hey!" the hunter exclaimed in a hushed voice. He caught Castiel's irritated glance. "What _ever_ you do, man, _don't_ move your wings." His friend's gaze became even more annoyed, if that was even possible.

The feathers of Castiel's wing under Dean's fingers moved, making the hunter, in only a couple of seconds of touching it, look at the wing he has holding. He could feel it with his own hand, he could feel the soft feathers and the tense muscles flexing over the bone. And Dean suddenly got a strange feeling of realization as the idea sunk into him. The idea and reality of: this wing was real. He was holding the _wing_ of his best friend. Something he could always only see the shadow of.

Dean then looked over at the face the wing belonged to. Not only could he see the wing that had been hidden from him, but the face, as well. How strange that they had been friends for so long, fought by each other's side, and yet, he hadn't even known what he had really looked like. Castiel had always been the forty-year-old tax accountant to Dean, not George of the Jungle.

"Dean," a hushed voice with a strange accent brought him out of his head. He looked up at Castiel who was staring at the hunter with furrowed eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

That was when Dean realized he had been just staring at Castiel with a stupidly shocked face on for a quite some time. "Oh, I, uh…" He quickly pulled his hand away from Castiel's wing and looked around awkwardly. "Sorry… I was just… thinking…"

The angel nodded slowly with a slightly understanding face. "I see…."

Dean turned around to face forward in his seat as he caught Sam's raised eyebrow. His brother leaned towards him and asked quietly, "What was that?"

The older hunter looked back to Castiel, who was still fidgeting, then to his brother again and whispered, "I just… it's weird to think of that as Cass."

Sam nodded and glanced back at their friend. "Yeah, same here. He's just so… _different_ …!"

"Yeah, tell me about it…!" Dean agreed, glad he had someone who thought the same way that he did.

"Okay," Henry announced as he and Jane sat themselves in the front seats. "Where to?"

"Umm…" Dean murmured as the Winchesters looked at each other.

Sam met Henry's glance and answered, "Just take us to the closest town."

Jane and Henry exchanged glances, probably thinking the fact that they didn't have an exact location was strange. But the man in the driver's seat announced, "Okay! Lawrence it is!"


	4. The Broken Angel

_Hello, again! I hope you thought the last chapter was funny! I told you I'd have chapter 4 out this week, so... here it is! This weekend's my birthday, so I might be a little busy and chapter 5 will take longer to come out. I also am having a little bit of a writer's-block on where I should be going with this, so if you want to see more, I'd really appreciate it if you could suggest somethings you'd like to see! :D There's going to be some fluffy chapters soon with Cass adjusting with his wings and the challenges that those bring. So, if you have something in mind, I'd love to hear it! :) Even if you have something Destiel related, I could make it be seen either way, friendship or love!_

 _Athena:_ _Thank you so much for your review! I couldn't reply, so I though I'd just respond here! (If that's okay) Thank you for the compliment, my chapters are edited by my good friend, Strix Prudens, so you can thank her too! :) I will publish as many chapters as I can and I'd love to hear more from you! Reviews/comments fuel me, right now I'm posting so fast because I have the chapters, but in a while, when I get stuck, I'm really hoping for more reviews to help me along! Again, thank you so much for the review!_

 _Sorry again for it being so short, or maybe you like it shorter, I have no idea! Some people have short attention spans, that's why the Vine was created. If that's a problem, please tell me, I know I get hung up on that detail a lot. 'Is this too long?' 'Should I make it shorter?' 'Or should I make it longer?'_

 _Well, I'm making this longer still, so, enjoy! And, again, please do comment! I get majorly fueled by them!_

* * *

They had been riding in the family's car for quite some time just watching the trees slowly thin out. Sam looked lost in his own little world, Castiel still hadn't gotten comfortable so he just gave up, and Dean kept making fun of their friend in the trunk the entire way to Lawrence.

The Winchesters were actually kind of excited to get back to Lawrence. After all, it was their hometown, even though they hadn't been _raised_ there. So, when they had started to see houses and shops, their hearts started to race with excitement.

The car suddenly pulled up to the side of the road in front of the sidewalk. Henry turned around in his seat to look at the three friends. "Well, boys! Here we are!"

"Thank you _so_ much! For everything!" Sam smiled as Jane told their children to get out of their seats and make room for the brothers to get out.

As the two quiet children got up and shuffled with their seats to pull them forward, Dean looked back at Cass to smile and jokingly say, "Well, Cass, I guess we still have time to go rob somewhere!" Once it was clear to the hunter that his friend didn't get it, he looked ahead of him to see Henry scowling at him in suspicion. "Oh! No, no, no! It's a joke! I wouldn't- we wouldn't!" The man's expression didn't change. "Would somebody _really_ rob something with _him_ around?" Dean defended as he pointed with his thumb back at Cass.

"Hey! Are you mocking me, Dean?" The angled snapped at his friend's comment.

"No, I-" Dean started.

"Dean!" Sam shouted as he tried to get his brothers attention. He then motioned to get out of the car since the girl in front of him had put her seat down in order for him to get out.

The two men climbed out of the vehicle and went around to trunk. Sam opened it up and, from the wall beside Castiel that had previously been holding him up disappearing, the angel tumbled out of the car and fell to the road below him. The younger hunter reached a hand out to help the angel to his feet and then looked through the trunk to smile and say, "Again, thank you so much for your help! We would've never gotten back to town by ourselves if it wasn't for you."

"Oh, it's no trouble!" Jane assured him, but Henry's face seemed to disagree.

"Yes, thank you!" Dean called through the car before his brother closed the trunk, and the three of them walked onto the street.

Sam caught sight of Castiel's uncomfortable face. "How ya feelin'?"

The angel glanced over at the giant man. "Stiff. I really need to stretch my wings out after being cramped in that car for so long."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances and began looking for a place to hide. It was annoying how Henry had dropped them off at such a crowded shopping area. Or maybe that was the point.

They kept walking until they found a convenience store with a couple of trees off to the side of it. "Hey!" Sam called. "I don't think anybody'll be able to see us behind those trees. Besides, that convenience store looks like no one's going near it for a while."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. The three of them went over to the trees and hid behind them. The older hunter then looked over at his friend and said, "Go ahead, Cass. Now that no one can see us, you can stretch out your wings all you want."

Castiel gave them a grateful look and he suddenly started to move his wings in every way imaginable. The Winchesters then got swept up in how extremely weird the whole thing was, and how extremely beautiful the wings were, actually. Sam noticed how that when light hit them, they shone a hue of deep blue.

Then, Castiel's strange accented voice interrupted their thoughts. "So, what now?"

Sam then looked up at the setting sun and suggested, "Well, seeing as how it's getting late, why don't we get a motel room? At least, for tonight. And then in the morning we'll find some way to get back to Lebanon?"

Castiel and Dean nodded, agreeing with the plan. Then, the older hunter looked over at his angel friend. His eyes glanced down to the ripped toga the angel was holding around him at his abdomen.

"Okay, I like that idea," Dean agreed as he looked back at his brother. "But, we need to get Cass new clothes. He's walking around in a bed sheet right now."

Sam nodded as he looked Castiel up and down as the angel seemed to be uncomfortable by their judging stares. "Yeah, I agree." He exchanged glances with his brother. "What do you wanna do about it?"

"How 'bout you go get him some pants or something at that Walmart across the street," Dean instructed as he gestured towards the store with his head. "And Cass and I'll go get a motel room at that place we passed on the way here."

Sam did a quick nod, glanced at them both as a goodbye, and disappeared behind the bushes. Dean then looked over at Castiel and clapped him on the shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay, bud," Dean reassured his friend.

Castiel's eyes softened sadly. He looked away and hung his head, whispering, "Yeah… I know…" He turned back to him and finished softly, "Thank you."

Before they knew it, they found themselves standing in front of the motel. The two friends stepped into the lobby and Dean walked up to the counter. "I'd like to get a room," he told the man behind the counter.

The man looked up at him from his magazine then stood lazily. "Yeah, what kind…?"

"Uh, a family suite for one night, please," Dean answered as he fished through his wallet. He brought up two hundred-dollar bills and handed it over to the man without looking up. However, the man behind the counter didn't take it. The hunter shook it a little, still not making eye-contact with the man. Finally, when he got too impatient, Dean looked up at him and saw that he was staring in confusion and slight suspicion at something behind him. At first, the hunter had no idea what the man behind the counter was staring at, but then, he remembered who he had brought with him.

Dean turned around to see Castiel, who, to the man behind the counter, looked like a twenty year old that probably parties and drinks too much, judging by his long, messy and tangled hair, fiddling with a glass angel statuette with one hand and holding his weird toga close to himself with the other. Boy, did that have to look odd to the man behind the counter, especially with the unexplainable wings strapped to his back. The real angel squinted at the details on the fake one, probably judging it. And the more Castiel moved it in his hand, the more Dean could just _see_ it slipping onto the floor. No wonder the man behind the counter was staring at him.

"Hey!" Dean shouted to his friend in a hushed voice. Castiel jumped and looked up at him. "What are you doin', man!?"

Castiel looked from the angel statuette to Dean with a worried and slightly embarrassed face. "Umm…!"

"Put it down!" the hunter snapped again in his hushed voice. Castiel then gave a quick nod before shyly putting it on the table again and then stepping back.

The man then looked at Dean with a raised eyebrow and took the money as he asked, "He with you?"

Dean gave an exasperated face as he looked at the brochures on the counter. "Yeah…"

As the man did something on the computer, he eyed Castiel again. "What's up with the wings?"

Dean looked over at the man, not knowing what to say. "He… uh… He takes Halloween really seriously."

The man looked up at the hunter with narrowed eyebrows. "Even when it's not even Halloween?"

The hunter just stared at him for a while before nodding. "Yeah… Yeah, he thought Halloween was just so amazing, that he didn't ever want to not wear a costume." He looked down with a theatrical sad-face on as he continued, "It's been like this ever since he was three…!"

The man's narrowed eyes became even smaller, if that was even possible. "Uh… huh."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind them. Dean whipped around to Castiel's shocked face and his hand that wasn't holding his toga stretched out, as if trying to grab something that was falling. And shattered glass below him. The only visible pieces of what the glass was, was a wing and a small sphere with a halo on it.

Castiel looked over at Dean, probably begging for help, but the hunter only stared back at his friend with a bitch-face. Dean reached into his wallet slowly and, without even looking at the man in front of him, handed him another hundred-dollar bill.

* * *

Sam walked over to the motel room that Dean had said they'd be in. When he was close enough, he caught sight of his brother leaning against an open door from one of the rooms. The younger hunter walked up to his brother and greeted him with a raised hand. "Hey."

"Hey," Dean held up a beer in his hand in greeting also.

Sam looked at the beer bottle in his brother's hand. "I see you've already bought beer."

"Yeah," Dean chuckled and gave a smile as he took another swig.

Sam frowned in confusion as he asked, "Where's Cass?"

"Ah!" Dean stopped leaning against the doorway as he stood straight. "Inside. Once we got into the room, he was so tired that he just flopped down and crashed."

The younger hunter's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He… fell asleep?"

"Yeah, I thought it was strange too." The older brother nodded. He looked into the room, obviously staring back at his friend, as he continued, "But then I realized he's been _acting_ differently, too."

Sam nodded, thinking he knew what his brother meant, but, just in case, he asked, "What d'ya mean?"

"Well, when I was getting this room, for example," Dean explained. "He was fiddling with this glass angel statuette. I told him to put it down, but next thing I know, it slipped out of his hands and broke. He _disobeyed_." Sam frowned in surprise. "For all of the stupid things that he's ever done, he's never ignored an order. And, didn't you notice he acted differently when we were with that family? He was getting embarrassed and mad at us. Cass doesn't do that," The older hunter shook his head. "No, it's too-"

"Human," Sam finished. Dean pointed the neck of his beer bottle at his brother. "Huh… So, are you saying he might be becoming human?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know, man. But one thing's for certain." He took another swig of his beer. "Cass isn't just different on the outside."

Sam glanced at the floor as he took that information in. Then, he remembered about the plastic bag in his hand. "Do you think I can wake him up so I can give him these clothes?"

Dean shrugged as he replied, "Who cares? I just don't want him wearing a bed sheet anymore."

The brothers then walked into their motel room, Dean closing the door behind them. Sam found Castiel passed out on his stomach, still wrapped up in his toga, on the farthest bed. The angel was holding a pillow in his arms as he rested the side of his head on it. One of his wings was folded up just enough for it to be on the bed, but the other one was stretched out off of it with the feathers trailing across the floor. He looked so peaceful, Sam almost didn't want to wake him up, yet. But his brother just _had_ to ruin it.

Dean walked over to Castiel and kicked at the wing that was draping onto the floor. "Hey!" the hunter called. "Wake up!"

Castiel woke up with a half-snore, his wings folded up slightly, looked over his shoulder with an annoyed glance at Dean, and then rested his head back on the pillow as he demanded groggily, "I'm not sleeping – I'm _resting_!" He hugged his pillow more, repositioned his head on it, relaxed his wings again, and then mumbled, "There's a difference…."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Dean replied as he sat himself down on the couch. "Because angels don't sleep. You already told, like, ten times already-"

"It was three…" Castiel corrected groggily, as if he was having a hard time trying to prove his point about not sleeping.

"You're definitely sleeping, man," Dean stated as he ignored his friend's correction.

Sam went up to where Castiel was 'resting' and put the plastic bag that he had been holding on the edge of the bed. "Hey, Cass," the younger hunter greeted, which Castiel returned by lifting up the wing that was still on the bed and stretching out more, almost like he was waving slightly at him. "I got you some pants, so, if you want them, they're in this bag."

Castiel lifted his head and eyed Sam with sleepy eyes. He just stared at the young hunter for a while before he started to get up, wings flapping slightly until they rested on his back. "Oh, yes… I'll, uh, put them on now."

The angel grabbed the bag, nodded in thanks to Sam, and disappeared into the bathroom. Dean then sighed and muttered, "Finally!"

Sam grabbed a beer from the fridge and stretched out on the other bed. He opened up the bottle and drank it in silence.

A few minutes later, Castiel hesitantly stepped out of the bathroom with brand new jeans on. Looking closer, Sam realized he had even fixed his messy hair…slightly. It almost seemed as though it was just like that. That or he didn't know how to fix his hair. After all, there had never been a time before in Castiel's life where he either was tangible enough to need to fix his hair, or be concerned about his appearance, too.

Dean nodded and gave his friend a thumbs-up as he raised his bottom lip in satisfaction and narrowed his eyes. Sam took the hint and nodded as well.

"Now all you need is a _shirt_ ," Dean muttered. "Don't know how we'll do that with those huge wings!"

Sam nodded. "I suppose we can work on that later. That's the least of our problems right now. Getting home is our main priority, not whether or not he's got a shirt, I suppose."

Castiel frowned slightly at his two friends and nodded before glancing back at the couch he had previously taken dibs on. The angel began rushing towards it before Dean called to him, "Ah, ah!" Castiel sighed, barely, and looked back at the hunter. "We need to make a plan for tomorrow before you pass out."

"I wasn't-" the angel began.

"Alright!" Dean put up his hands. "What _ever_ you were doing, we need to talk about tomorrow first."

Castiel nodded before sitting on the edge of the bed, his wings lifting up before draping across the mattress, which, when Sam imagined having wings like that, seemed pretty uncomfortable.

Sam leaned forward on his bed as he suggested, "Well, I noticed there was a phone booth outside that convenience store we were at. We could call somebody and ask for a ride back to the bunker."

Dean sat forward and spread out his hands. "Alright. And who would _that_ be?"

The younger man shrugged and answered, "I don't know, Kevin? Garth?"

The older hunter sighed and leaned back on the couch. He took another swig of his beer, then nodded as he muttered, "Alright. Sounds like a plan." Dean looked back at Castiel and gestured at the bed with another nod, "We're all set, then, man. Go ahead, get some shut eye."

This time, Castiel didn't even bother to defend himself as he flipped around and stretched across the bed. His wings flapped into comfortable positions on either side of him and, before the brothers knew it, they could hear the angel's soft snoring.

Sam laughed and shook his head at the passed out angel. The two of them then finished their beers and slowly found themselves drifting off to sleep as well, Sam on the bed with Dean on the couch. They didn't have the heart to move the angel in order to clear a bed for the older hunter. That just wasn't fair. The guy had just gone through some a massive change, both mentally and physically, and needed some rest. Besides, they doubted he would even be _able_ to lay on the couch.

So, as the night carried on, the three friends slept away. Not knowing, or even wanting to _think_ about, what could be waiting for them next.


	5. The Ant and the Eagle

_Hey, guys! So, sorry this was late. I haven't been feeling very up to posting this story in a while, but I still had this chapter, so I thought I could give you guys this! I'm probably not gonna be writing anything from this for a long time since I've officially entered my writer's block. I also have close to zero motivation to write or anything. I've been working on my new fanfiction Catching Stars, but... I don't really feel very motivated about that one either. I think I might be taking a Supernatural fanfic break, but I don't know. I also may fix this chapter later on if I feel necessary, but probably not. And don't worry, if I do, I'll tell you._

 _Well, if you liked this chapter, go ahead and comment, favorite, or follow! And I'll see you guys in a while! :)_

* * *

Dean woke up to the slight warmth of the sun on his face. The hunter groggily opened his eyes and his lips turned into an annoyed frown. He rubbed his arm over his eyelids and sat up slightly on the couch. Wait… couch?

Dean looked over at the two beds at his side. Only one was occupied, and the person who was in the bed _he_ should be sleeping in had giant, ebony wings. So, it wasn't a dream… Awesome.

The hunter sat up all the way and faced the bed with the angel laying across it. He wondered where his brother was, but then again, Sam usually left early in the morning to do some weird exercise-shit. Dean took this time to just sit and think. Something he would find boring on most days, but yesterday was just so…stressful and confusing that the hunter felt like he _deserved_ a moment to just sit and think.

He was thinking about his passed-out friend, mostly. As Dean stared at the angel, he couldn't help but be reminded of what he was feeling. Weird, most of all, but that was probably a given. He always knew his friend was more than he appeared, an angel, which was probably one of the most powerful creatures in all of existence, but… he never really thought about it. Castiel always seemed like just a normal guy, besides the dim-wittedness and magical powers, but other than that, someone he could relate to. The tax-accountant appearance never helped either. Yes, to Dean, Castiel was always… too _human-like_ for him to remember every second of the day that they were _not_ the same. In actuality, Castiel was an otherworldly being who was so powerful and great that Dean was just a stupid, little ant compared to him.

Dean could never remember that, sometimes, which made it much easier to become best friends with him. Now, however, as he stared at the new, but awesomely beautiful, appendages which were moving up and down on the angel's back every time he breathed, it was so much harder to think of him as an equal. It was as if those wings were a symbol of the angel's greatness and power. Which was what Castiel was, no matter how many times Dean tried to ignore just _how_ powerful he was, it didn't change anything. Castiel was just so great and amazing compared to Dean that he started to wonder if…he was even _worthy_ to be this _angel's_ friend.

It was so strange how insignificant he felt, just by looking at a pair of wings. How puny, stupid, and so incredibly _weak_ he felt by staring at his _best friend_. Again, however, could he – was he even _allowed_ to call them friends? Could a human and an angel be friends? Could an ant and an eagle be brothers?

Suddenly, Dean was interrupted from his thoughts as the door of the motel opened. The hunter shook his head, shooing the thoughts away, and looked up to see Sam carrying a white paper bag and two coffees in a container. The older hunter's brother set his things down on the table near the door.

Dean smiled and stood up from his seat on the couch to meet his brother at the table. "So, you went out to get breakfast, huh?"

Sam looked up at him before nodding and answering, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I woke up later than usual, but I didn't want to wake you and Cass. I especially didn't want to get breakfast with Cass. The more we can avoid people with him, the better."

Dean nodded in agreement as he sat at the table. He shuffled through the bag to pull out four bagels and a yogurt parfait, which earned Sam a disappointed eyebrow raise. "Really?"

The younger man just had a disappointed expression on in response. "That was the healthiest thing there! I knew you'd want a big breakfast, though." He then sat down with his older brother and opened up the parfait. Dean just nodded with an excited look as he dove into one of the bagels.

Only a minute or so later, there was a noise of shuffling feathers and a sleepy groan from the bed Castiel had claimed. The angel then sat up groggily and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Dean greeted with little interest in his voice.

Castiel turned around and faced his two friends with an extremely tired face on. It wasn't until Dean actually looked at the angel did he notice exactly _what_ Castiel was staring at: the bagels.

The angel then looked away after a while, stumbled to his feet, and started to stretch his back out as his wings slowly unfolded. There was a terrifyingly loud crack from one of the giant appendages that made Dean cringe, whom wasn't the only one who was creeped out by it. Once the loud noise was made, Castiel was completely awake as his eyes flew open and his head whipped around to try and see if he had injured anything.

Dean snorted a laugh, which made the surprised angel look over at him with half-raised wings, as if to ask why he was laughing. The older hunter responded by explaining, "Dude, you're okay. You just cracked your…wing, I guess."

Castiel's shocked eyes turned terrified and asked in a worried tone, "What does that mean?"

Dean laughed again. "No, no! It's completely normal!" He then wiped his greasy hands on his pants once he set down his bagel. "People do it all the time with their knuckles." The man then put his palm up to his fisted hand and started to crack his knuckles. This did not comfort the angel at all, however, as his expression turned more terrified as the hunter started to crack other joints in his body.

Suddenly, Sam put up a hand as he snapped in disgust, "Dude, stop!" Dean froze as he stared at his brother in confusion. "It's weird and freaky." Castiel was extremely relieved once his friend stopped, but didn't seem to feel any better. The younger man seemed to catch this and explained, "What Dean was saying, was that you didn't hurt yourself. When you crack a joint, like you just did with your wing, it's just the sound of little air bubbles in your joint space popping. So, you're good, Cass, nothing's broken or anything."

Castiel sighed in relief at the explanation. He then folded up his wings onto his back and started to hesitantly move towards the table to sit with his two friends. Once he was there, he pulled up another chair and sat with them. The angel had to adjust his wings a few times, making them flap into a comfortable position, before he was finally sitting quietly with them.

The silence continued for a few minutes as the two hunters continued with their breakfast, Dean shoveling his bagel into his mouth while Sam peacefully nibbled away at his yogurt. This peace was soon interrupted when the older man looked at Castiel, who hadn't looked away from Dean's bagel. Suddenly, something fell from the angel mouth that surprised both the hunter and the angel.

The two just stared at the liquid that just dropped from Castiel's mouth in surprise, until the angel quickly wiped at his chin as Dean shouted in shock, "Cass! Did you just _drool_!?"

Castiel shook his head and his wings opened up slightly in alarm. "What? No! No, I didn't!"

Dean smiled slightly, finding the ordeal hilarious. "Yes, you did! Don't lie to me, man!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Castiel snapped in defense for himself and his wings opened up a little more.

"Dude, I'm not an idiot! Now, tell me! Why were you-" The hunter stopped before turning to eye his bagel that was practically _dripping_ butter. "Oh…! I see…!"

"No, you don't!" The angel furrowed his eyebrows and the ebony wings unfolded a smidge more. "There's nothing going on here!"

"Come on, man!" Dean's smile grew. "Why are you hiding this!? You're hungry, aren't you!?"

"No, Dean! I'm not hungry! I'm an angel! I don't get hungry!" Castiel suddenly snapped with irritation and his giant wings flew open all the way, sending a large gust of wind across the two young hunters.

Dean shook his head with a smile that never left his face. Although the wings were a reminder to the hunter that his friend was more powerful than he was, _this_ Castiel now looked ten years younger than him, which meant Dean was still superior in that way. There was no way the angel was going to hide from him that easy. For now, however, the hunter would let it go. There was just _one_ more step of hunger Castiel needed to reach, and once that happened, Dean wasn't going to let him go that easy.

The hunter put up his hands in surrender. "Alright, man. Whatever you say."

Castiel let out a small sigh of relief once the hunter ignored him and went back to his food. All was quiet again and Dean was about to think that his friend would never reach the next level, but that was when it happened.

Suddenly, the whole room was filled with a loud grumble that came from Castiel's direction. The angel bent forward and covered his stomach as his whole face turned red in embarrassment and his wings folded around his shoulders, like he was trying to slowly hide himself from his friends. Sam and Dean turned towards him, the younger with confusion ridden in his face and the elder with an expression of complete and utter mirth.

Dean snorted out a laugh as he chuckled, "You lying _son_ of a bitch!"

"Dean, I'm not hungry!" Castiel snapped, but it didn't sound threatening at all as he was still thoroughly embarrassed.

"Oh, cut the crap," the hunter told him as he grabbed another bagel and tossed it to his friend. He then pointed at the plain bagel in front of the angel and ordered, "We're not leaving until you've eaten the entire thing."

Castiel had such a torn expression between relief and horror that it must have hurt. He then eyed the circular bread in his hands as if it was something so holy he wasn't allowed to be touching it. That was when Sam guessed what was going on with their friend: he was holding on to as much _angel_ as he could of himself. Castiel might even realize what the two brothers had theorized yesterday, that he was slowly becoming human. It made sense really, if you knew that sooner or later you could be a completely different person, wouldn't you try to hold on to as much _you_ as possible? Especially when who you would be becoming was something weak and pathetic compared to who were at that moment.

Castiel then lifted up the plain bagel to his mouth and nibbled of a mouse-sized bite. Suddenly, the angel's eyes snapped wide open, his wings perked up into a half-open stance, and he was completely frozen. The two brothers had no idea what just happened. Did he just shut down? Did they just press the 'off' button on their friend?

"Umm…" Dean began, but before he could get a really word out, Castiel snapped back into action. This time, however, he started scarfing down the bagel with such speed, Sam thought _Dean_ couldn't even do that. The angel's eyes were wide, like a hungry animal getting food after days of starvation, and his wings were hovering over him and his bagel, much like a vulture eating as it tries to protect its food from others. "Whoa, whoa! Cass!" The angel looked up at his friend when Dean started to move his hands towards him. "Don't eat so fast, man! You could hurt yourself!"

Castiel looked at his bagel, and then at his two friends, before sitting up straight and flapping his wings slightly to force them to settle down against his back. Sam's hand snapped towards the napkins to hold them down from the wind of Castiel's wings. Then, after a few seconds, the three of them were all eating in silence again.

* * *

After Dean had called Garth and got the answering machine, which was strange for the now 'Bobby-like' man, he was able to reach Kevin. Now, after paying for one more day at their motel room and extreme boredom from all three of them, they were finally waiting for Kevin to get into Lawrence with the truck they'd asked for.

The three friends had walked all the way to a deserted road that was just outside of the city, so there would be no eyes on them as they put a winged man in the bed of a truck. They probably had been standing there for about half an hour before a rusty, white truck came towards them on the side of the road.

The car door then opened and out stepped a tired Kevin. The two brothers gave their rounds of greetings and thank you's before the young man stepped back and muttered, "So, uh, where's Cass?"

Dean then nodded and stepped over to a few trees behind them and said, "Hey, Cass. It's Kevin." Then, following behind Dean, Castiel slowly and hesitantly stepped out from behind the trees, wings flapping slightly to settle onto his back.

Kevin's eyes widened as he watched the stranger walk up to him. He looked the man up and down in shock; noting his young features, long hair, and the giant, ebony wings. Kevin then started to shake his head as he stepped back and said, "No, no…! That's…that's not Castiel! What, are you two crazy!? That's some sort of-"

"Kevin!" Dean shouted as he put out his hands towards the scared, young man. "I know it's weird and hard to believe, but trust us, it's Cass." The older man turned to Castiel whom was standing beside him. "Some witch called Stupid Snob did this to him, so now he…uh…he looks different, but, yeah, it's still Cass."

Castiel then turned to the young man in front of him and explained in his quiet, accented voice, "She manifested a simplification of my trueform. So, _technically_ , this is how I really look, but not in the way I'm used to or would say."

Dean's face suddenly crinkled up in confusion as he turned to his friend and asked, "What does your _real_ trueform look like?"

Castiel opened his mouth to explain before Kevin interrupted and asked, "Why does he sound so weird?"

The angel then gave the young man a completely offended expression. Before he could answer, however, Sam stepped in and asked, "Why don't we get into the truck before anybody comes by and sees an angel on the side of the road, huh?"

The other two men nodded and Castiel was brought to the bed of the truck. Sam also noted something interesting as the angel climbed in. As he hopped in, his giant, black wings held onto the sides of the truck, almost like arms. Dean then found some blue tarp and told Castiel to wrap it around himself so that when they passed other cars, drivers and passengers wouldn't flip out when they see a winged man in their truck.

Once the angel was settled in the bed of Kevin's truck, Sam offered to drive since the young man had driven all the way there himself. So, he hopped into driver's seat with Kevin in the passenger's and Dean and Castiel in the bed. Then, the four of them began on their three and a half hour drive back to Lebanon.


End file.
